


Safe

by Harleythegeekqueen



Category: Marvel, Tom Hardy - Fandom, Venom - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, TW - Domestic Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 05:28:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18162020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harleythegeekqueen/pseuds/Harleythegeekqueen
Summary: You’ve moved to San Francisco for a fresh start making fast friends with your neighbor Eddie Brock. When a horror from your past returns Eddie reveals his own secret.





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

> Written for: Kari’s Tom Hardy Challenge @until-theend-oftheline || Marvel Angst Bingo @marvelangstbingo
> 
> Prompt: “I tell myself they can’t touch me. They are long dead.” 
> 
> Angst Bingo Square: Choking
> 
> A/N: I’m tying Venom into the main MCU universe as the Chitauri attack on New York will set up the reader’s backstory. All errors are my own, gifs/photos found on Google unless noted above, and as always thank you so much for reading!

  The robe is on the chair where you left it the night before so you slip it on and climb out the window to the fire escape. It’s nearly four am so the city hasn’t quite begun to wake up yet but you can hear traffic which is calming in itself. The nightmare had woken you to find your sheets soaked with sweat and your body trembling. Nights like these it was useless trying to get back to sleep so you would take advantage of the fire escape. It was cliché but very therapeutic.

  “Aaah, there she is,” the apartment window next to yours opened and Eddie stepped out. He was your neighbor and to be honest he was really cute, but you’d sworn off relationships for the time being. He was nice though even helped you move a few boxes like it was nothing. He always seemed to know when you came out here.

  “Morning Eddie, I didn’t wake you did I?”

  He leaned back in the window grabbing two coffee cups passing you one, “No just getting up to start my day and your beauty pulled me here.”

  You blushed sipping at the coffee that he had made just the way you liked it, “Such a flirt.”

   He smiled taking a sip of his own as he leaned against the railing, “Well you know can’t miss an opportunity with someone so gorgeous.”

   You shake your head looking back out towards the street where traffic is picking up. San Francisco would never have the traffic of New York but it certainly didn’t lack in traffic either. Thankfully you worked from home and the furthest you had to go to the little grocery down the street. Eddie had asked why you never left but you told him it was a long story. It was but it was more painful than anything.

   When you looked back Eddie was already looking at you as if he was trying to figure you out. It didn’t bother you though like you expected. His gaze was soft, “Any plans for you today Eddie?”

   “Just a bunch of investigative reporting and checking sources,” he shrugs sliding his free hand into his pocket. “You going out today?”

   You shake your head immediately, “No I did my grocery shopping earlier in the week and I have plenty of work to do here.”

   “Well how about I bring home dinner? There’s a little Italian place that serves authentic food I’ll think you’d like.”

   “I’d love to have dinner Eddie, but it’s just as friends.”

   His smile doesn’t falter, “I was simply implying as friends and neighbors we should share pasta.”

   “Well alright then,” you hand him back the empty coffee cup. “I’ll see you tonight.”

   Eddie waves vanishing back into his apartment and you swear you hear him mutter to himself about shutting up but then the window closes. You climb back into your own window starting your own coffee maker. Coffee was your main life sustenance as was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You hoped you could muster up an appetite for the dinner with Eddie tonight. It was just dinner after all. Friends had dinner all the time and even though he was flirtatious Eddie respected you weren’t interested in a relationship.

   The day went on much like it did every day. You’d work from nine until noon and then take an hour lunch before working from one to four in the afternoon unless you finished your work earlier. It was a blessing to have the ability to work from home. The hospital happily sent all their work via courier and you’d type up doctor’s notes, file insurance claims, manage patient charts, and sometimes even create new files if the nurses on shift didn’t have to. It was good work and they accepted you needed to work in your own environment. Then after four, it was your own time.

   Usually you’d wait for the hospital delivery but you hadn’t received an email about delivery for today so instead, you chose to take a shower for the dinner with Eddie. It was nice and you slipped into a pair of jeans and a soft floral blouse. Something comfortable so you could enjoy your dinner with Eddie. So when the door was kicked in you weren’t prepared and stumbled back when he strode into the living room like he owned the place.

   “Hey sweetheart!” his smile didn’t quite stretch enough to meet his eyes. His eyes were terrifying but he quickly turned to shut the door and locking it tight, “I’ve missed you Y/N.”

   “You’re dead,” you whispered fear overwhelming your senses.

   “Not dead enough, sweetheart,” he strides across the room like he owns it flopping onto your couch and putting his feet up on your coffee table. You sink back against the wall facing your couch making sure to keep him in front of you at all times. The scars on your body seem to throb reminding you of what sent you to San Francisco in the first place.

   “How did you find me?”

   “Persistence and determination,” he grins patting the seat cushion next to him. “Come sit down Y/N. We need to talk.”

   “Please just leave me alone,” you practically sob.

   “Get the fuck over here and sit down. Don’t make me sit you down,” he orders and you whimper but quickly move to sit next to him. You leave space between you but he quickly wraps his arm around you pulling you against his side. He buries his head into the side of your neck his lips ghosting across your pulse point.

   _Jack was a good man at one time. That time was probably right up until you got married. He was a cop and a damn good one. When the aliens invaded New York and the Avengers stopped them it was Jack who helped you get to safety. Your ankle was broken and he showed up at your apartment every day helping nurse you back to health. A girl couldn’t help but fall in love, which is what you did. You went to the local courthouse and were married thinking you’d found your happily ever after. Instead, you found the devil._

_The first month passed without incident but then he started showing up at the hospital where you worked. He called out your co-workers for flirting with you or even implied you were unfaithful. A few times a squad car would pass by your house on your days off and you knew Jack had sent them to check up on you. You’ve gotta love the brotherhood of cops. It was three months in when he first hit you. A slap because dinner wasn’t waiting on the table when he got home, a shove into the wall when you asked him not to go out drinking for the fifth time in a row, and worse and worse until you were making weekly trips to the hospital._

  His hand was on your chin and jerked your face towards his, “Are you purposely trying to ignore me?”

   “No Jack I’m not,” your voice tremored and Jack leaned forward licking up your face where the tear had fallen.

   “I think you are,” he moved quickly pull you onto his lap and wrapping his hand around the back of your neck. His lips crashed into yours as you whimpered and pushed against him. He bit your lip hard and you tasted blood when he jerked your hair back, “You’re my wife. I’ve missed you and I’ve come to take you home.”

  You brushed the blood from your lip, “No. I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re supposed to be dead.”

  He jerked your hair and you tumbled to the floor as he released his grip. You quickly moved towards the door but a kick to your ribs sent you flowing across the floor. He was on you in a second punching and shouting such horrific things at you when his hands wrapped around your neck. You thrashed and clawed at his hands trying desperately to breathe but he’s immovable. Your vision is blurring due to lack of oxygen even as your hands clutch desperately to his.

  “You brought this on yourself you bitch,” he growls as his hands tighten.

  “Then you’ve brought this on yourself,” a deeper guttural voice calls out and suddenly Jack’s weight is gone from you and oxygen rushes back into your lungs. You cough and gag when you look up seeing a huge black figure a wide mouth set with rows of sharpened teeth, wide bright white eyes, and clawed hands one holding up Jack, whose feet dangle above the ground.

  “Help me Y/N!” Jack calls out to you making the monstrosity turn to you.

  “She can’t help you,” it cackles. “It’s dinner time,” his mouth opens and right before your eyes, the huge creature swallows Jack whole.

  “Oh my God,” is the only thing you manage before passing out.

  Someone is humming and stroking your hair. It’s calming and you snuggle into the person even as he chuckles. You know it’s Eddie but then you remember Jack. Even more so you remember the monster that ate Jack. You jump up flopping back against the couch as Eddie stares at you with worry.

   “Hey, hey, hey you’re alright! Just be careful you might have cracked a rib or something,” Eddie holds up his hands showing you he isn’t a threat.

   “No Eddie we need to run. There was something here,” you plead moving across the couch. “It might come back and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

   “Relax he isn’t going to hurt you, okay? You’re safe!” Eddie pleads taking your hands into his. “I need you to take a couple deep breathes for me, Y/N.”

   Eddie doesn’t understand. He didn’t see how huge the creature was or the way it rid your world of Jack. That part you didn’t mind so much but how did you live. Why hadn’t the monster taken you too?

  “Eddie I know I seem hysterical but this huge creature ate Jack. It swallowed him whole and I don’t know why I survived but we need to get out of here.”

  Eddie’s lips pressed into a thin line a worried line in his forehead, “I’ve wanted to introduce you to him but I didn’t know how to bring it up. Then when I got here that guy was choking the life out of you. You were turning blue and we weren’t going to let him get by with it.”

  You swallowed nervously, “We?”

  Eddie stood up away from the couch and stepped back making sure there was plenty of room between him and you. You watched in horror as black ooze seemed to pour from Eddie’s skin wrapping around and bulking him up. The monster from before stared at you know, “We are Venom. You are ours and you are safe.”

   “Holy shit,” you whimpered in fear. “I don’t understand.”

   “I’m a symbiote and Eddie’s is my host together we are Venom and we will protect you. You don’t need to fear me.”

  “You ate Jack, Eddie! You killed someone!”

  The creature moved forward until he was in your face, “A scumbag. A bad man who was going to kill you! You’d be dead if I didn’t and I hadn’t had dinner.”

  You sat back realizing that the creature was right. You would be dead right now if he hadn’t come along when he did. You lifted your hand to your neck and it was tender and no doubt bruised in the shape of his hands, “You’re ri…right, Venom. Thank you.”

  He hummed with a slight growl, “You’re welcome. I’ll see you again.”

  Once again you watched the transformation as Venom slipped away and Eddie stood there nervously looking at you. Neither spoke for a long time just simply keeping your eyes locked together. You decided you needed to make the first move so you stood although it was painful and walked slowly towards Eddie. You almost fell back long tendrils of black that came from Eddie’s back wrapped around you and helped keep you upright. As soon as you were safely in Eddie’s arms the tendrils vanished.

   You rested your head on his chest wrapping your arms around his torso, “Thank you Eddie and Venom. You saved my life.”

   “You’re safe with us, Y/N. No one is going to hurt you again.”

   Eddie sat you back on the couch going to make you a cup of hot tea. Once he returned you decided to tell each other everything. Eddie told you about how he came to be Venom’s host. The ways they spent the downtown and why Venom had eaten Jack. Then you told him how you met and the man you’d fallen in love with. Then the changes and heartbreak came with it.

   “I was in an abusive relationship support group and this girl always said ‘ **I tell myself they can’t touch me. They are long dead.** ’”

“And that’s what he wanted you to think?”

   “I guess. As far as I knew from his precinct he had died during a drug raid. So like my friend in the support group I thought he’s gone and he can’t touch me. So I packed everything of mine and decided San Francisco looked like a good start because it was so far away from New York.”

  “And you think his partner knew he was alive?”

  “I have no doubt. Cops will protect each other no matter the cost. It’s probably how Jack found me.”

  “Not all cops are bad but you seemed to have found the worse ones.”

  “I really did, but sometimes I attend an online support group and there are some good cops I’ve met there. It’s kind of refreshing.”

  Eddie nodded scratching his head, “Is this why you don’t leave much? I mean the apartment.”

  “Yeah even though I thought he was dead it just seemed safer to lock myself away. I didn’t count on meeting you though.”

  “God bless the fire escapes.”

  You chuckled with Eddie and all the mornings you’d spent together over coffee on your fire escape just like this morning. Everything was different now. You knew for sure Jack could never touch you again and Eddie was a host for a creature that together made them the vigilante Venom. You’d dated worse.

   “But if I’m being honest you should probably go get checked out at a hospital. I can go with you and I’ll just tell him I ran the guy off.”

   “I hate hospitals.”

   “Yeah so do I but I think you need to be check just in case. I even got a doc I can call to see you.”

  You bit your lip, “And you’ll stay with me?”

  “No place I’d rather be tonight,” Eddie leaned over and kissed your forehead before helping you pull a sweater on. He had to practically carry you down the steps but you agreed it was the right choice to get checked out.

   Eddie’s friend Dan insisted you spend a night of observation just in case and true to his word Eddie stayed with you. It was nothing serious thankfully mainly bruises and muscle strains. Over the next few weeks, Eddie would practically be your nurse helping you feel better. Sometimes he’d be waiting for you on the fire escape and sometimes you’d even converse with Venom if he was in a good mood. By the sixth month mark, Eddie had you out to celebrate with dinner at the little Italian place you’d both come to consider as your place. It was the happiest you’d been in years. Not to mention the safest considering not only did you have Eddie, but you have Venom too.


End file.
